NHRA Wrap-up: Joliet Track Shines With Records, Milestones, Allstars

Sounding hoarse and looking sunburned and exhausted, National Hot Rod Association team owner Don Schumacher closed his weekend at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals at Route 66 Raceway with another milestone.

Son Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Matt Hagan (Funny Car) won their final rounds Sunday to give Don Schumacher Racing its third double victory this season and 37th since 2003. Both lead their respective standings as the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule reached its halfway point.

Schumacher celebrated his 72nd National Hot Rod Association triumph — and fourth in Joliet — and Hagan his eighth overall, sharing the winner’s circle with Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Michael Ray (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

As the tour moves to Norwalk, Ohio, for the July 4-7 Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also lead in points.

‘NOT IN MY HOUSE’ – Tony Schumacher denied Clay Millican his first NHRA Top Fuel victory in dramatic fashion, as his U.S. Army Dragster crossed the finish line trailing a spectacular plume of fire and spewing shrapnel. The Long Grove, Ill., racer was unshaken by the engine explosion in the last 100 feet of the 1,000-foot course. Immediately after his winning 3.930-second, 269.29 mph pass, he said, “When the win light comes on, it doesn’t matter.”

What did matter was exiting his home track with the point lead and reversing a trend of his rivals being able to say they beat him for their first victories. “Most everybody who gets his first win, it’s against me,” Schumacher said. “And we said, ‘This is not going to be an ongoing trait. We’re going to stop it right now.’ I don’t care if Clay wins a race — just not today, at my home track, when we have such a chance to extend a points lead that will be valuable when we start the Countdown. We’re going for a championship.”

It was a showdown of champions, with the seven-time NHRA champion winning for the 21st time in 23 meetings against Millican, the six-time International Hot Rod Association Top Fuel titlist who was seeking that NHRA breakthrough in  his 159th try. Millican lost traction and clocked a 4.094-second elapsed time at 171.77 mph.

HAGAN GETS BETTER DEAL – Matt Hagan felt cheated Saturday night, but he made up for it Sunday. The Mopar/Magneti Marelli Dodge Charger driver was in the final pairing of Funny Car qualifying late Saturday night, when the timing lights cut out. That forced him to shut down, then refire his car. “The clutch was nuked after that,” he said, disappointed that he didn’t get to join four others who dipped into the three-second-E.T. range. The only thing that could make the points leader feel better was winning. So he did that, defeating John Force in the final round with a 4.065-second, 315.34-mph run.

Hagan climbed from his car and said, “I will take a trophy over a three-second run any day.” He earned his third victory of the season at the expense of teammates Johnny Gray and Jack Beckman, then Bob Tasca III. “I don’t know how you could stack them up much tougher than that,” Hagan said. “I just had to hang onto a fast race car.” Force challenged at 4.113 seconds, 304.80-mph.   

COUGHLIN EXTRA-BUSY – Jeg Coughlin earned his fifth Pro Stock trophy here in 6.603 seconds at 209.85 mph on the quarter-mile in the TeamJegs.com Avenger against KB/Summit Camaro driver Greg Anderson’s 11.680, 74.15 mph. “It wasn’t my best day behind the wheel,” Coughlin said, “but last I checked, it [turned out] perfect.  

“This was a very big weekend for us because the JEGS Allstars race was also going on,” he said, “so to win at the same event as that deal makes it much more special. Some pretty darn good drag racers have visited the Route 66 winners circle this weekend, and I’m honored to be alongside of them all. The JEGS Allstars takes so much planning, and a lot of my mental time was spent making sure it was going well. Certainly all my free time was used up watching those guys and gals get after it. I’m thrilled to say it went off without a hitch, and when I was able to turn 100-percent of my focus to my racing, that fell into place also.”

Coughlin improved to second place in the standings, just two points ahead of teammate Allen Johnson, his semifinal victim.

I’ve been preaching it, and now we’re practicing what we preach: Consistency and momentum is how you achieve the goal of winning a national event. – Michael Ray

RAY ON A ROLL – Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Michael Ray said he can be aggressive on the racetrack because “my day job has zero reflection on how I do on Sunday. If I don’t win, I’m not going to get yelled at when I go home and go to work. So why not be ruthless and tell everybody, ‘You don’t like me? Get out of my way.’ I have nothing to lose here. So I’m going to be the hero or I’m just going to be Michael Ray. And being Michael Ray isn’t a bad thing right now.” It isn’t. He defeated former boss Matt Smith to give Star Racing its 80th victory, earning his second of the season and third of his career.

“I’ve been preaching it, and now we’re practicing what we preach: Consistency and momentum is how you achieve the goal of winning a national event. I think we’re putting ourselves in a really strong position to make a championship run,” Ray said after acing the team’s third final-round appearance in four races. It just might be the remedy for team owner George Bryce, who was suffering from the flu this past weekend. Ray used a .008-second reaction time to defeat No. 1 qualifier Matt Smith with a 6.986-second, 191.29-mph pass. Smith countered with 6.992-second elapsed time at 190.22 mph aboard his Viper Motorcycle Company/Matt Smith Racing Buell.

The loss spoiled an otherwise perfect weekend for Smith, who closed with low E.T. (6.908 seconds) and top speed (193.82) of the meet. Smith was making his first final-round appearance of the season but second in a row for his King, N.C.-headquartered team.

QUALIFYING THRILLS – In arguably the season’s most thrilling qualifying day all season, Top Fuel’s Morgan Lucas and Funny Car’s Ron Capps headlined the action late Saturday night. They were No. 1 qualifiers, along with Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle), as track records fell in every category but the bikes.

Capps unleashed the first three-second pass of the year, driving the NAPA Dodge Charger to a 3.988-second elapsed time at 320.88 mph. That pass was third-quickest in Funny Car history. Also lowering his personal-best times into the threes was Bob Tasca III, driving the Motorcraft/QuickLane Shelby Ford Mustang, who matched Capps’ 3.988. Capps kept the No. 1 position because his speed trumped Tasca’s 316.97 mph. Capps became the eighth pro driver Saturday to set a track record. He and crew chief Rahn Tobler still claim the quickest with Capps’ 3.964-second run last June at Englishtown, N.J. Del Worsham and Jack Beckman also joined Funny Car’s three-second club.

“It’s just stunning to see this,” Beckman said. “This track is so phenomenal that we can throw everything at it with the tune-up and it sticks.”  

Don Schumacher Racing missed the chance to score a double top-qualifying effort in the sport’s two nitromethane-fueled classes by one-thousandth of a second. That’s how much quicker Lucas was in his GEICO/Lucas Oil Dragster than Tony Schumacher, Friday’s provisional leader. Lucas dominated the dragster class with his 3.737-second, 322.19-mph blast that capped a flurry of track-record runs in the final qualifying session. Spencer Massey, Doug Kalitta, Clay Millican and Bob Vandergriff all had at least a few moments of record-holding glory in the final day of qualifying.   

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE – All three Arana family racers started in the top six of the Pro Stock Motorcycle line-up, but none reached the final round.

SPORTSMAN WINNERS – Chris Demke (Top Alcohol Dragster) and Annie Whiteley (Top Alcohol Funny Car) led the Lucas Oil Series sportsman winners. Others were Mike De Palma (Competition Eliminator), Phil Unruh (Super Stock), Drew Skillman (Stock Eliminator), Nick Folk (Super Comp), Ray Connolly (Super Gas), and Ricky Shipp (Super Street).

ALLSTARS SHINE – Jay Hullinger’s North Central Division scored a landslide team victory in the JEGS Allstars event for the seventh time and first since 2009. Individual winners in the 29th annual sportsman showcase were Bill Reichert (Top Alcohol Dragster), Dale Brand (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Mike DePalma (Competition Eliminator), Mike Crutchfield (Super Stock), Slate Cummings (Stock), Sherman Adcock Jr. (Super Comp), Kevin Moore (Super Gas), Casey Grubb (Super Street), James Monroe (Top Dragster), and John Scali (Top Sportsman).